Playing flute without lips? Tones of music lost in time: An investigation of the indigenous Bastar flutes of India

Abstract

The physics of music has been well studied and has provided the basis on which musical instruments are made, studied and characterized. Significant research has been conducted on the different kinds of musical instruments, which range from traditional instruments like the mridangas of India to the bagpipes of Scotland. In fact, a lot of research has been carried on the acoustics of different kinds of flutes as well, such as the Finnish kantele and the Indonesian Kompangs. The Indian subcontinent, the birthplace of transverse flutes and a host of other instruments, itself has a plethora of unique musical instruments that have been scientifically examined. Yet, the Bastar flutes of India have evaded the due scientific attention that they deserve owing to their unique sound generation mechanism. Quite strangely and surprisingly, these Bastar flutes are a unique genre of flutes that don’t require lips to be played, and are quite intriguing. The current research explores the aeroacoustics of a Bastar flute via experimental measurements, computational simulations and analytical formulations. The results demonstrate that the amplitude produced is directly proportional to the number of rims present. This are also responsible for producing a low-frequency, high-amplitude melodious sound. It also suggests that the underlying mechanism behind sound generation in a Bastar flute is a unique blend of edge tone and a jet tone, demonstrating a rare phenomenon not seen in traditional musical instruments. This uncommon phenomenon has the potential to unlock several new applications in the field of acoustics.